[SAM CARVALHO] Welcome to the Marketing a Practice podcast with me, Sam Carvalho, where you’ll discover everything you need to know about marketing and branding your business. To find out more about how I can help you brand new business visit www.practiceofthepractice.com/branding. If you’d like to see some examples of my design work, be sure to follow me on Instagram at Samantha Carvalho Design. Deevo is a thought leader, problem solver and serial entrepreneur who has been involved in photography and videography since 2003. In 2018, he shifted his business to strategy and consulting for small and mid-size businesses and helping them create conscious and impactful content for their brand. As a paid speaker, Deevo is known for his ability to connect with his audience and deliver pragmatic, sensible solutions to business challenges. He is the host of A Little Impolite, a popular podcast that features guests from all walks of life. Deevo’s unique perspective and ability to see the big picture has made him a sought-after content strategist and visionary. His visual intuition has led to him being celebrated as a photographer and videographer. Whether he is helping businesses reach their potential or capturing special moments on film, Deevo’s passion is evident in all that he does. Hi, Deevo, thanks so much for joining us today. [DEEVO] It’s always funny when you hear other people read it. No matter how many times you hear, it’s like, wait, are they talking about me? I’m doing great. Thanks for having me, Sam. [SAM] Makes you feel important. [DEEVO] It’s all lies, all lies [SAM] Deevo, I always start off the episode with, can you share a bit about your story and how you got to where you are now? [DEEVO] Let’s see. I’ll give you the 30,000-altitude foot. I did like every other typical American it seems like these days. I went to college, got my degree, graduated, took a job that I wasn’t passionate about, and ended up for 15 years sitting in a cubicle doing the same thing day in and day out. Midway through that space, I got married and had hired a really expensive photographer, and they under-delivered in every way and I was just blown away that someone could charge that much and not be able to deliver a product and take that long. And the customer service was just nonexistent. I had already been a, I had already been a hobbyist as a photographer, I just, it was something I had been passionate about since I was 12 years old, just never realized I could make money at doing it. That’s when I started thinking about, I knew I was unhappy in my corporate gig, I started thinking about what would I do about it, and photography was the answer for me. So I just started doing somewhat of an apprenticeship and working for free for anybody and everybody who would let me take their photos. Then roughly in 2006-ish, 2003, between those three years, I really started developing the craft. Then in 2010 I launched it full-time and walked away from the corporate world and been doing it ever since, so bunch of different versions of that in between, but yes, that’s the long and short of it. [SAM] Okay, awesome. Another thing that you mentioned that you’re passionate about or that you speak into now is digital storytelling. Can you expand a bit on that? [DEEVO] Yes, so I mean, at the heart of everything we do as humans, we connect and tell stories. So being able to document those stories and archive them, whether it’s photography or video or audio, whatever it is, and being able to do that visually and tell someone else’s story for them so that they have that preserved for posterity is the approach that it takes. So rather than just posing you for photos, for example, I’ll take you through scenarios or tell your story and document it from a candid perspective, it’s just an age-old art. So digital storytelling, digital marketing go hand-in-hand with one another. It’s how brands tell their story so that you’ll buy their products. [SAM] Deevo, what’s your take on branding or tips on how companies can improve their branding? [DEEVO] Oh, well, I think be very clear, first of all what your value is. What problem are you solving as a product, as a company, as a brand? How can you box that or how can you characterize that and tell that story to people who are interested in your product? So first and foremost, be very clear about that upfront, like what value do you bring to the table, so you as a podcast host, there’s millions of us that are doing this podcast, why would I listen in on your podcast? What makes your story different? Is it your delivery? Is it your mechanism? Is it your really cool guest that you bring on like me? Just joking. What is your, what does your brand represent? Once you’re very clear on that, then strategically set out to tell stories about that brand so that you can connect with your ideal buyer. You’re not selling to everybody, so figure out who that buyer is, figure out what drives them, motivates them, what problems you can solve for them, and just speak exclusively to them. Then that’s how you start to build a brand reputation around yourself. [SAM] What are some tips around bootstrapping and how people who are just starting out in business can maybe implement some bootstrapping strategies around their branding and marketing? [DEEVO] Well, I think first and foremost, don’t quit your day job until you’re very, very clear on what it is you’re going to be doing on the side. What’s your side hustle? That doesn’t mean that you don’t do the side hustle, it just means that you obviously have to have revenue coming in so that you can maintain your side hustle and pour time into that. So what I would initially suggest is make sure that you have problem-solving mechanism in place where you can actually make revenue doing that. Then in terms of connecting on a grassroots level through bootstrapping, start spreading the word through relationships and building relationships, offer to shoot for whatever your industry is if you’re a photographer. Offer to start giving some of those services to people, not necessarily free, but give them something, give them some reason to want to use your service and then refer you back out. That would be the first thing that I would focus on is relationship building in your industry and how you can serve that community in some way, shape or form. Obviously, getting together with your friends and your network and people that are in your most intimate to be your disciples would be a great way to start as well, because they’re going to be talking about your product if they used it. So make sure that you’re delivering on that. I don’t know, how much time do I have, you could go for hours on bootstrapping [SAM] Oh, you could definitely add more in there. I’m sure our audience would appreciate hearing it. So what would you say the role of intuition is when it comes to creating? [DEEVO] I think that every client that you engage with is completely unique and different in their own value, in their own way. Everyone comes at something from their own context and their own history and their own learned behaviors, especially as photographers and videographers, and you have to be able to meet people where they are. Part of that is being intuitive and reading the room and understanding what it is and who they are and what they value and if you’re very in tune with that, by watching facial expressions or body language or just different things like you and I in this podcast right now and just watching how you respond to my questions or you can pick up on non-verbal cues very quickly when you study people and watch people and you’re in the space and self-aware of that. In so doing, you can be intuitive to connect with that person on a different level as opposed to just treating everyone the exact same way. So you can’t, you and I might have a completely different connection mechanism if I was photographing you than someone else that you had introduced me to. You have to be able to read that space and understand it so that you can connect with them to draw them out in that moment [BRIGHTER VISION] When you’re in private practice, it can be tough to find the time to even review your marketing efforts, let alone to make improvements where needed. Whether you are a seasoned clinician with an existing website in need of a refresh or a new therapist, building a website for the first time, Brighter Vision is the perfect solution. By first understanding your practice and what makes it unique, Brighter Vision’s team of developers are then able to create you a beautiful website that will attract your ideal clients and get them to contact you. Better yet, they also provide unlimited tech support to make sure it’s always up to date and professional Search Engine Optimization to make sure you rank high in online searches all at no additional cost. But best of all, we’ve worked with them to create a special offer just for the Marketing a Practice listeners. Get your first three months of website service completely free. To take advantage of this amazing deal, head to brightervision.com/joe. Again, that’s brightervision.com/joe. [SAM CARVALHO] So just while you were speaking about that now, it just made me think, I know obviously video is becoming more and more important in digital storytelling, which we touched on earlier, so what would you say are some tips for people to maybe feel more comfortable in front of the video? Because I know there’s a lot of people out there who maybe want to create videos as part of their digital story, but are a bit shy or aren’t too sure how to go about it. So what are some tips that you have around that? [DEEVO] I think be very purposeful on what you’re going to talk about, so maybe making a couple of notes. If you’re going to do a post on social media on whatever the topic is, make a couple of bullet points on it, maybe practice it a few times in the mirror if you’re shy about being in front of a camera, just so you can get used to hearing your own voice. Maybe you can record yourself a couple of times just so you can get used to the idea of hearing your voice, seeing your face on camera, that stuff. Just develop some familiarity around it. I would also get in the process of documenting things, not so focused on creating every time, rather than telling your story through the documentation of it so that it’s not always such like a big ordeal, like a big setup. If you’re doing it more on the fly, if you will, just documenting stuff, you habitually become more comfortable doing it and more comfortable with hearing yourself and seeing yourself as opposed to setting up all the cameras set, the lighting has to be perfect, and you have to have the perfect outfit on, and you have to be in the perfect, most ideal setting. If you’re putting too much into it, into the context of it, the delivery can be a little bit overwhelming for you. So if you can simplify that by just doing shorter bits here to there, you’ll have more success with it. [SAM] Those are some great tips. [DEEVO] I was once in that space, yes, I was once in that space. I have no problem getting on camera now to you perhaps, but every time I get there, I’m like, all right, got to be very clear what I’m going to say today. I write out a couple of bullet points, I put them somewhere in front of me, like if I’m not going to, I don’t want to look like I’m reading or memorizing it. Also, so don’t do that. But I still have, even now I’ve been doing this for five years on Instagram and I still get butterflies before I go on sometimes. It’s normal. [SAM] Well, that’s good to hear. So what are some tips also around social media specifically? I mean, we know that’s one of the main marketing channels now, especially online. What are some tips that you can give on how people can just be more impactful on social media or just again, tell more of their story through social media? [DEEVO] Well, I’m going to sound like a broken record, but some of the same things I said earlier is, what’s your purpose, being be very, very clear on why you want to show up on social media. Are you showing up to entertain, to educate, to inspire, to share other people’s content, to share your own content? Just be somewhat purposeful about it. Don’t just smatter stuff out there just to say you’re putting something on social media because it looks like that if that’s what you do. You don’t have to post every day. Take it in small chunks at a time. Don’t think that you have to be online all the time. I, actually, did a really cool keynote a couple weeks ago on how to have a healthy relationship with social media and one of the things that I find in speaking with people most of the time is they just get overwhelmed on what to post and they don’t have any idea of what to do, so they just throw up some nonsense. But if you can plan out your content to some extent in advance, and you don’t have to be crazy about it, but at the beginning of the week, just make a note of maybe five or six things that you might be, that you have going on that week, five or six things that you’re doing, or that might be worth telling a story around. Or maybe if you’re a photographer, you’ve got a couple of photo shoots that week. Just write out yourself a calendar ahead of time. Like, I’m going to post on Monday on behind the scenes video of me working with Sam. On Tuesday, I was on a podcast, and I’m going to talk a little bit about that podcast. Then on Friday I’m going to show some of the photos that I did last week. That way you just have a roadmap. It’s like setting up each morning, you habitually journal or you make your goals for the week, or you talk about, your social media should be part of that paradigm so that you’re not so overwhelmed when it comes time to post and you’ve already done the work in advance and all you have to do is auto-post it or use a schedule or something of that nature. But having that content plan in advance would be a great way to be prepared for it. Then show up and be consistent. Remember, it’s social media, so be social. Don’t just post and never comment or never go out and proactively talk to other people. Be part of the conversation. [SAM] It’s so true what you say, because I think exactly what I said, now that social media has become such an important part of marketing, but then just the idea of that can often lead to people just posting for the sake of posting and just trying to be present when, like you said, I think it’s so important to always go back to why are you doing this? Make sure that you’re putting out content that’s valuable that your audience actually wants to engage with. So yes, that’s a really good reminder. [DEEVO] And you can actually be really organized around that exercise as well. I would say pick five or six keynote topics that you feel like you can show up for. They might be, maybe you’re an aspiring chef and you’re really good in the kitchen. Maybe share some of the behind-the-scenes stuff that you do in with your family or whatever. It doesn’t always have to be business, it doesn’t always have to be personal life. I would find a couple of five key pillars that represent who you are and what you embody, and then somehow create content around that that would be of interest to whomever you’re trying to converse with. Does that make sense? So I talk about my parenting to some extent, I’m a single father, so I talk about that to some extent. I talk about my musings on life, I showcase my clients, and then I have philosophies on how to run a business and those sorts of things, so those are the five or six things that I always stay around, and I don’t really ever deviate from that. [SAM] That’s nice because, like in a few ways, people, your audience knows what to expect, and then also you aren’t, you don’t become stuck when you’re trying to think of content because if you have those pillars in place, you can just refer to them and be like, okay, cool, what haven’t I posted in a while? Or what’s happening in this area of my life? That makes it easier for you then as well. [DEEVO] Yes, you’re spot on. Brilliant. Exactly. But your point is really, can’t be understated. It’s really important to repeat that again, because when you’re showing up on social media, yes, you’re talking about things that are of, that you’re passionate about. But the whole point of being on social media is ideally, I would imagine in your physical friends’ circle, you have people that you are somewhat kindred spirits with. Like I would, I’m talking to you specifically. So when you go out with your best friends or your group of of friends that you see on a regular basis, you all share some commonalities. [SAM] Yes, yes. [DEEVO] So you don’t just have friends that you don’t, that you’ve never engaged with in any way. Like, you don’t just like hang out with people that you dislike or you just don’t connect with. So think about, and when you talk with these people, you all talk about things that you have kindred spirits around, whether it be politics, whether it be religion, whether it be cooking. You all stay in that conversational space and you respect each other in that roles that you play. Social media is the exact same microcosm, but you’re now speaking to a much larger audience, seven and a half billion potential larger audience. So you want to be passionate about the things that you’re good at, but in that conversation you’re sharing it with a very intended audience, just like you said. That’s very important to remember, you’re not trying to, don’t focus on the vanity metrics, focus on connecting with people. And metrics are your thing. Those eventually will happen, but focus more on connecting as opposed to like building a huge large count of followers and comments and likes, because that’s not what matters. Sorry, that was a long ramble [SAM] That’s very good. No, it was good. It was good. Deevo, can you tell us a bit about your podcast, A Little Impolite what can people expect to hear over there? What do you guys talk about? [DEEVO] We talk about everything. It’s like a rabbit hole dissertation. That’s a funny question because I’m still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up as a podcast host. That show has taken on a bunch, it’s taken on a bunch of different flavors, not a bunch, but several different flavors. I think I’ve finally arrived at where we’re going to go with this for a little bit. Right now, it really centers on people like yourself who are doing brilliant things around the planet. I invite you on to talk about storytelling as it relates to your brand and what you’re doing to give back to the world to make it a better place. What impact are you making by, if you, if this podcasting thing is your full-time gig, we talk about why you podcast, what it is you talk about, what type of people you bring on and what impact are you leaving? In that inner fabric of weaving in and out of those subtleties, we go down rabbit holes all over the place of just, you name it. Yesterday I had a chocolatier on who’s just doing brilliant things up in Canada right now, and I swear we talked about the most esoteric things from ninjas to Buddhist monks, but it all weave back to a central topic of the stories that he tells. Anyway, so it’s, yes, it’s a coach show, it’s called A Little Impolite that you should check it out. You should be a guest on it. [SAM] Well, definitely include links to that in the show notes. I’m excited to be a guest anytime. [DEEVO] All you prepared to go down rabbit holes with me? [SAM] I’m prepared. Yes, they sound super random, but let’s do it. [DEEVO] No, they’re not random. There’s always a purpose behind it. It’s like a mad purpose behind it. [SAM] Deevo, if people wanted to get in touch with you, what is the best way for them to do that? [DEEVO] Hit me up on the gram, Instagram, Fusion Photog, short for photography. [SAM] Awesome. We’ll also have that linked in the show notes. We always end off with, if every private practice owner in the world were listening right now, what would you want them to know? [DEEVO] That’s a big loaded question. [DEEVO] I think that it’s okay to make mistakes, especially if you’re an entrepreneur. It’s okay to make mistakes, and it’s okay that you haven’t figured out your purpose in life yet. It’s okay if you don’t know what your impact is. I think don’t take yourself so seriously and beat yourself up and always know that there’s an opportunity to climb your second mountain at some point. I’ve started over many times on a bunch of different things and probably we’ll start over again and I’m okay with that. This is my life. I get to decide how it turns out. [SAM] That’s good. Deevo, thanks so much for being a guest on the Marketing a Practice podcast. [DEEVO] I appreciate your time. Thanks for having me. [SAM] Thanks again to Brighter Vision for sponsoring this episode. To get your first three months of website service completely free, head on over to brightervision.com/joe. Thanks for listening to the Marketing a Practice podcast. If you need help with branding your business, whether it be a new logo, rebrand, or you simply want some print flyer designed head on over to www.practiceofthepractice.com/branding. If you’d like to see some examples of my design work, be sure to follow me on Instagram at Samantha Carvalho Design. Finally, please subscribe, rate, and review this podcast on iTunes if you like what you’ve heard. Talk to you soon. Marketing a Practice podcast is part of the Practice of the Practice podcast network, a network of podcasts seeking to help you market and grow your business and yourself. To hear other podcasts like Beta Male Revolution, Empowered and Unapologetic, Imperfect Thriving, or Faith in Practice, go to practiceofthepractice.com/network. This podcast is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regards to the subject matter covered. It is given with the understanding that neither the host, the publisher, or the guests are rendering legal, accounting, clinical, or any other professional information. If you want a professional, you should find one.